That's the big thing about The Sims 3 – you don't have lots, exactly. Every building is still within its own “lot,” but all of the lots are interconnected. No loading times when you want to go somewhere else, no weird time freezes. You can step out of your door, walk down the street, knock on someone's door, and start chatting. Or, if you're Andy, steal their tasteless garden decorations. Going shopping doesn't mean phoning for groceries, it means actually getting a (free) taxi and going to the shops.

This is a bigger thing than you might think. Some personality traits involve people who love being outdoors, or hate it. Wishes will come up to eat at a restaurant, or go to the cinema, or to get out of the house. If your Sim is musically inclined, they may want to go to a park and play guitar publicly. The outside world cannot be ignored.

Time moved on. Before long, we were all working in our respective fields. Andy was a music talent scout who'd gotten good enough with a guitar that he could play for tips, which he frequently did on his time off, but while at work he was spending most of his time, using the new career options, to get to know the band members better. Tim had started to work as a freelance writer, and had gained the ability to interview people and write articles (and, due to his grumpy demeanour, promptly destroyed a relationship he had going by publishing a negative article about a friend of his.) Tamer? Well, Tamer was steadily moving up the ranks of political power.

It's Tamer who concerns us next, in fact, because he'd been tasked with raising campaign funds. Jobs have a much, much bigger impact on the game world, now. You occasionally receive Opportunities based on your skills, your job, or random occurrences, which provide rewards in exchange for completing a task. It might be something simple like stopping off somewhere on the way home to fix a broken dishwasher, or it might be, say, raising campaign funds.

There were two ways to go about this. Tamer had the Charismatic and Schmoozer traits, which meant that he could sweet-talk anyone to his way of thinking. Sending him door to door was initially appealing, but after he spent an hour on someone's doorstep waiting for them to answer – while watching them, through the glass door, play with a baby – that option didn't appeal so much. A fundraising party it was.

Sims each have a mobile phone, now, which can be used to call people at any time. The Throw Party option was duly clicked, and – as with everything else – this has been significantly expanded on for The Sims 3. What sort of party is it? When does it start? Should guests wear casual, formal, or swimsuits? And who are you going to invite?

With all of these set, I bought a buffet table, a fire pit for the yard, and a stereo: everything was on track for success. Then Andy broke the shower. To be fair, crappy items that have been around for a while break easily and often, so it's not entirely his fault, though the fact that within the next game week he also managed to break two computers, the sink, and the toilet makes me wonder if he wasn't just being a dick, because Tim was the designated repairman.

Skills, too, afford unique bonuses and opportunities. Tim was skilled enough that he could Tinker with items, which would either break them or give them a bonus. He could also Upgrade them. More interestingly, after having fixed a lot of electrical goods, he'd unlocked a bonus which meant that anything electrical that he fixed would never break again. This would've been incredibly useful, but for some reason, possibly involving the cleaning powers of water compared to electricity, the shower was classed as a plumbing item. While Tamer schmoozed the guests and Andy played guitar to keep them entertained, Tim sat in the bathroom getting more and more pissed off and trying to fix the shower that was leaking all over the floor.

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